TCAF: Doug Wright award winners announced

Katherine Collins, creator of Neil the Horse, inducted into the ‘Giants of the North’ hall of fame.

Three first-time winners took home trophies from this year’s Doug Wright Awards, presented yesterday during the Toronto Comics Arts Festival.

Bird in a Cage by Rebecca Roher flew away with the “best book” award, winning in a very competitive category that included graphic novels by Chester Brown, Michael DeForge, John Martz and Chris Oliveros.

Steve Wolfhard took home the 2017 Doug Wright Spotlight Award, for his book Cat Rackham. The creator responded to the award on Twitter:

The award is presented to a Canadian cartoonist deserving of wider recognition; his fellow nominees included Jessica Campbell, GG, Nathan Jurevicius, Laura Ķeniņš and Brie Moreno.

The Pigskin Peters Award, presented to the best experimental, unconventional or avant-garde comic of the year, went to The Palace of Champions by Henriette Valium. The other nominees included Julie Doucet, Ron Hotz, Matthew Reichertz and Chris Taylor.

Finally, as previously reported, Katherine Collins, formerly known as Arn Saba before transitioning in 1993, was inducted into the Giants of the North, the Doug Wright Awards’ hall of fame. Collins is the creator of Neil the Horse Comics and Stories.